Device for avoiding the twisting of electric wires.



1. n. SHAW. DEVICE FOR AVOIDING THE TWISTING OF ELECTRlG WIRES.

Patented Aug; 28, 1917?.

TUM DEGO SHAW, OlE BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA.

DEVCE FOR VOIIDING THE TWISTIN Gr OF ELECTRIC WIRES.

Speciication of Letters Patent.

Patentediiug.. 28, i917,

Application led October 7, 1916. Serial No. 124,370.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, JUAN Drnco SHAW, citizen of Argentina, residing atNo. 870 Venezuela St., Buenos Aires, Argentina, have invented certainnew and useful lmprovernents in Devices for Avoiding the Twisting'ofElectric Wires, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a special devce for avoiding thetwisting of electric leads or wires, and the main object of the sameisto untwist said wires when twisting or ceiling has already takenplace, without necessity ot cutting off the current, in some cases, andwithout interrupting the con* tacts which may have been established.

The device according to this invention may be applied indiiierently towall sockets, telephone receivers and the like, where the wires or leadsare liable to twist, with the consequent inconvenience.

rlhis difficulty may be avoided, in accordance with the presentinvention, by making one portion of the device rotary, independ` entlyof the other, and arranging within the saine the means necessarytoprevent the contact from being broken' while one of the said parts ismade to revolve with respect tothe other.

ln order that the invention may be clearly understood and carried intopractice without diiiiculty, one of its forms is illustrated, by way ofexample, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section of a plug constructed inaccord ance with the present lnvention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the portion of the same plug which isapplied to the socket.

Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views of in* termediary rings, made of anysuitable conducting material and which are designed to maintain thecontacts, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the remaining part of the plug whichforms the rotary portion.

In all these drawings the same reference numerals indicate the same orcorrespond ing parts.

vlt will be evident that although the drawn ings represent a plug andthe following description is substantially limited thereto, the devicemay take any other suitable form, in accordance with the particular usefor which it may be designed, without departing trom the basis of thisinvention, the essential fea tures of which'are clearly determined inthe final claims annexed to this specification.

Other modifications might also be introduced without going beyond thescope of the invention.

l is a cylindricalvpicce of ebonite or any other suitable insulatingmaterial, provided at its base with the contact pieces 2 and 3,partially covered with insulating material fland designed to establishContact with the 'terminals of the socketjn the usual manner. When thedevice is not used for a plug, the

vcontact pieces 2 and 3 may adopt any other suitable form for receivingthe electric wires or leads. The contact piece 2 of one of the terminalsis electrically connected to a metallic screw 5, the other end of whichis screwed into a conducting piece 6, fixed in its turn, by means of ascrew 8 to a metallic ring 7 placed in a cavity in the cylindrical bodyl and insulated by an annular rib or shoulder l2, between which latteraud a central, cylindrical rod-like lug or projection l2 there isproduced a recess which will be described later.

The contact piece 3 is electrically connected, by a screw 9, to anothermetallic ring 10,

encircled by an annular rib OrshOulder 11, and between this rib 1l andthe rib l2, aforesaid, there is also formed an annular space or recess.

The inner face of the cylindrical body 1 is threaded as indicated at 25,so as to screw on to the cap 24, also made of ebonite or any othersuitable insulating material and which serves as support for the rotarypiece 23.

The said rotary piece 23, also constructed nf ebonite or anyother'convenient insulate ing material, is substantially cylindrical inshape and has an enlarged inner end portion so as to permit of the cap24 holding it to the cylindrical body l, without impeding the movementof the rotary piece 23 with respect to the said cap 24 and to the body lwhich remain fixed and are held together by the screw joint 25 or bymeans of screws or in any other convenlent manner: Between the enlargedinner end of the plece 23 vand the cap is a space in which is placed aspring designed to maintain free play be tween both pieces, as shown at26.

Inside the rotary portion 23 is a central rod-like lug or projection 27which in diameter and position corresponds to the central ,projection 12of the fixed body 1, with 4latter and the central projection 27 areannular spaces or recesses which form extensions of the similar recessesin the cylindrical member 1, between the ribs 11 and 12 and between thislatter and its central proj ection 12.

At the bottom of the recesses between the ribs 13 and 14 and between thelatter and its central projection 27 are arranged metallic conductingrings, 18 and 17 respectively, and the remainder of said recesses isfilled by the independent intermediary rings 15 and 16 respectively.Said rings are made of conducting material and form contact between therings 10 and 18 and the rings 7 and 17 respectively, of the device inaccordance with the invention.

The ring 17 is connected by means of a metallic screw 22 or in any othersuitable manner to one of the ends of the outgoing wire or lead 28,while the contact ring 18 communicates, by means of a supplementaryangular portion 19 joined by a screw 20 to another screw 21, with theopposite lead 29. The contacts of the wires may be inclosed within thevsame cap or an additional cap may be provided for them.

The operation of the device will be readily understood as it will beevident that without necessity of withdrawing the plug from its socket7the rotary portion 23 may vbe turned as much as may be needful to nn-Itwist the wire, without thereby interrupting the contacts, as theselatter are circular and lthe intermediary rings operate in any posieachcase the corresponding number of con' tact rings and intermediary rings.

Also other modifications may be introduced, as regards the lconstructionand arrangement of parts, without departing from the limits of theinvention, the substantial `features of which will now be set forth theappended claims.

I declare that what I claim as new la desire to secure by LettersPatent, is:

l. An electrical connection of the char acter specified, comprising, incombination a pair of companion members, one of which embodies asleeve-like cap rigidly connected to the other member and having anaxial opening, and a freely-rotatable part having an enlarged inner enddisposed within said cap in confronting relation to said other memberand a substantially-cylindrical body projecting axially outward throughsaid opening; the confronting faces of said other member and saidrotatable part being provided, each, with a pair of spaced, concentricannular ribs and with a central projection disposed within and encircledby the inner rib; the ribs and projection of said members being locateddirectly opposite each other; a separate conducting ring disposed in thespace between the outer and inner ribs of each member; aI separateconducting ring disposed in thespace vbetween the inner rib and centralprojection of each member; conducting wires leading to the rings of saidrotatable part; a pair of contact pieces located exteriorly of saidother member and connected, each, to one of the' rings thereof; outerand inner conducting means interposed one between the two outer ringsand the otherbetween the two inner rings and in slidingcontact with thesame; and spring means disposed within the firstmentioned member betweenthe enlarged end of said rotatable part and the adjacent wall of saidcap, to press the former axially inward toward said other member, so. asto constantly maintain the said rings electrically connected by saidinterposed conducting means during the rotary movements of saidrotatable part.

2. An electrical connection of the character specified, comprising, incombination,

a pair of companion members, one of which embodies a sleeve-like capvrigidly connected to the other member and having an axial opening, anda freely-rotatable part having -an enlarged inner end disposed withinsaid

